A Night When the Cactus Flower Blooms
by DaMidnighter
Summary: Hey, Yuri, Judith! Brave Vesperia has a new mission! ...Yuri, are you all right? Huh, Raven and...? /Karol's POV. Raven x Yuri.


"Guys! Hey! Yuri! Judith!" I shouted excitedly as I ran to the rest of our group - standing near the market plaza in Maintac - as fast as I could. Everyone turned to look at me, and I reached them really soon. "Yuri! I got us a new job!" I beamed.

Most of Brave Vesperia's, OUR guild's, missions had been really small stuff, but little by little we were becoming more famous! But to my disappointment, Yuri looked more disappointed than delighted.

"What? Now? Here?" he asked in dismay. "Yeah! We're gonna find a flower from the desert!" I told him, trying to share my excitement. "We got a job, Yuri! Isn't it great?"

"The desert? Oh hell no…" Yuri sighed. "Karol, it's great you're being more boss-like, but come on. That desert is like hell…" he complained, but Judith interrupted, smiling as usual.

"I think it could be fun. What kind of flower are we looking for?" "It's a special cactus that blooms only by night", I retold the information I had. "We're to bring it to our client! She said she'd asked some guild to do it before though, and they set out by night cause it's cooler when the sun's down. But the guild came back empty-handed… Something about the cactus disappearing when they dug it up…"

Estelle had been listening carefully, and she seemed to remember something after I finished. "Oh! I think I may have read of it… [The Cold Feet Cactus is a most extraordinary plant, as it not only flowers out of the general cactus season, but its roots are very sensitive to temperature. If exposed to even a slight decrease from its usual growing place's warmth, the plant turns into sand, and grows again elsewhere.]"

Everyone was really quiet as we thought of what Estelle had just told us. Raven was the first to say it out loud, though even I already figured it out. "So this cactus we're after's gotta be picked by day? Man, that's picky for a plant…" (I thought it funny how he sometimes seemed to count himself in for Brave Vesperia when he was a high-ranking member of Altosk already. I did sometimes hope he'd actually join our guild, but it was nice to just have him tag along too.)

"Sometimes it feels like someone's just playing tricks with us", Yuri grunted. I tried to think of a different solution; it wasn't fun when Yuri was upset.

"Maybe Rita could warm the roots or something?" I suggested. Rita wasn't amused and she was clearly going to object, but Raven was faster. "That would never work, Karol. Our genius mage has a tendency to burn to ashes anything she uses fire on", he joked. You might think he'd know better than to make fun of Rita by now, but he just did it again and again…

"You'll be the first thing to burn to ashes, old man", Rita instantly threatened and started casting Fireball.

Lucky for Raven, Estelle interrupted her by placing a hand on Rita's shoulder. "Isn't it fire's purpose to heat and burn things? So Rita does great", she said and smiled. Maybe she was tired of healing Raven's burns. Rita blushed a little, which was really rare. This time Raven didn't say anything. Being Fireballed this close to a desert wouldn't exactly be fun. Not that being victimized by Rita was fun anywhere else either. I knew by experience.

"So anyway, if you're heading to the desert, we're staying behind in Maintac. We've no business there this time", Rita then said, referring to her and Estelle no doubt.

"Huh? But-" Estelle objected. "You know it's no cakewalk in the desert, Estelle. It's a guild thing, so they should handle it on their own. Surely they can manage to find a flower without us", Rita continued. "…I don't want to see you suffer the heat if it's not absolutely necessary", she added, almost whispering to Estelle. I would have liked them to join us too, but I knew we shouldn't drag Estelle into any dangers unrelated to her. And besides, going against Rita was never good for my health.

"We can take care of this mission ourselves, Estelle. Brave Vesperia will prevail!" I tried to cheer her up and raised my fist to a victorious pose. She giggled and smiled at me. "All right. Just promise me you'll all be careful."

"Aren't we always?" Yuri tried to sound hurt. "Not really", Rita countered it, but as Estelle seemed slightly worried she just shrugged it off as a joke. I smiled. Yuri still wasn't happy about going to the desert, but his mood seemed to be improving.

"We should prepare now and then rest up and set off early tomorrow", Judith pointed out. I nodded. Tomorrow was gonna be tough.

ooooo

"Why the HELL did we come back here?" Yuri growled out of the blue. We had been exploring the desert for hours and hours and had not seen a glint of the Cold Feet Cactus. Apparently, the flower bud of the cactus was really big, and since most of the cacti didn't have flowers and the rest bloomed during a different season, we should have noticed it if we passed by…

The heat was really intense and I was soaked in sweat. Even Judith looked like the constant heat was getting to her. Yuri has taken his shirt off, and it was hanging from his shoulders. (I had told him to wear it like that or his shoulders would get burned. He had taken my advice, but he looked like he would murder the desert if he could.) Only Raven was still bouncing around like usual. I kinda felt it should have been the other way round. I mean, I was the youngest and he's like… really old. I thought of warning him of Yuri's murderous glares towards the man who just seemed to ignore the heat while we suffered, but my own envy overcame and I decided against it. Yuri would probably just save his strength instead of turning on his comrades. So we had just silently dragged ourselves forward while glancing around for a huge flower bud on top of a cactus.

After yelling out a little of his frustration, Yuri grumbled for a while but went on walking, a little faster-paced than before. I looked after him, and then scurried a little faster too. We walked silently for a while. Well, Raven walked, and we did something close to walking.

Judith suddenly showed up by my side. "Do you still have enough water?" she asked, and smiled even though I could tell she wasn't at her best. I checked my canteen. It was looking somewhat empty… I felt a little guilty over drinking it so fast, so I wanted to put up a strong front. "Um… I-I'm still okay", I told her.

My tone wasn't very convincing, apparently. Yuri, who had been just in front of us, turned and grabbed my canteen, and started looking around for a cactus to get water from.

"H-hey!" I objected and tried grabbing my water back, but Yuri lifted it out of my reach. "Don't try to act brave here. It's suicide in this heat." I looked down. Yuri spotted a small round plant and walked to it before I could say anything, so I went after him. He shot the cactus with the Sorcerer's Ring, but only a little fluid came out of it. He let all of it trickle into my canteen and then handed it back. "Don't drink all of it yet. No matter how many cacti we try, it seems to be a dry season for them too." "Thanks… I won't", I mumbled and took the canteen.

I couldn't help noticing how Yuri's behavior had changed when he started to help me, so I didn't want to start arguing. I looked at Judith, who took a glance at Yuri and then smiled to me again. I decided to really try my best to get us out of the desert as soon as possible!

Too bad that even doing my best, I did not find us the cactus very soon. We searched and searched, but saw only regular cacti that were all even dryer than when we first were here. I was already starting to question the lady who had hired us, when I noticed Yuri's walking had gotten a little wobbly and he was occasionally holding his head. I took a sprint to him.

"Yuri? Are you all right?" Raven, who had appeared on Yuri's other side asked before I could do the same. Yuri didn't look at either of us.

"Yeah. Course. Let's keep going", he grunted. He couldn't convince us with just that. "You don't look all right", I told him. "Humph. I just hate this place", Yuri said, and seemed like he was going to go a little ahead when Raven grabbed his wrist, looking very serious and concerned. "Hey. Yuri… you need to drink too", he told Yuri, who finally looked at him, but I couldn't see his face anymore.

We were silent for a moment, and Judith caught up to us, as she had been watching our backs. "Yeah yeah", Yuri mumbled, and to prove he was listening he took his canteen and took a sip. "There. Now can we get on with this?" he grumbled and put back his canteen. Raven sighed, still looking worried. "...let's go."

I had no idea what time of day it was already, but the sun was still shining bright and high, and we still hadn't found the Cold Feet Cactus. If Estelle hadn't told us she'd read of it before, I would have doubted if the thing actually even existed. Because even Raven was starting to show signs of becoming tired, I thought I should do something and tell everyone we're heading back. Before I could do anything, we suddenly heard a loud "thud" from behind us (we traded positions every now and then to keep the traveling slightly more balanced with all the monsters around). I turned around instantly and saw Yuri collapsed in the sand. "Yuri!" I yelled and ran to him.

I heard Raven gasp, and he and Judith both reached Yuri before I did. Raven fell to his knees next to Yuri and lifted him in his arms. "Yuri! Yuri? Can you hear me?" He called to Yuri, but he seemed to be unconscious.

Judith knelt down and examined him. "…I think he's dehydrated", she told us.

"Huh? But… I thought he'd been drinking almost as much as me!" I cried out. "I thought it was just that I missed something, but he hasn't been filling his canteen this whole time…" Raven almost whispered, looking dead serious. I was shocked. "What? But… That's…!" I couldn't get anything said.

Judith gently snorted. "The idiot needs to worry about himself too. Giving all the water to us…" "W-what should we do? We… He needs water…!" I almost panicked. Yuri, damn it…! I took out my canteen, but Judith stopped me. "We can't give him fluid when he's unconscious, he might choke…"

I scowled real hard to tried to get myself so calm down. I took a deep breath and opened my eyes. "We… we need to get him back to Maintac…!" I said, and Judith nodded. "Let's hurry."

ooooo

"…nnn. …huh?" Yuri mumbled. He tried to get his eyes open. It took me a while to realize: Yuri was awake!

"Yuri! Yuri! I was so worried…!" I almost cried, and in an attempt to hug him, I mostly ended up with my upper body lying on top of his waist, as I'd been kneeled next to his sickbed for hours. The sudden pressure probably wasn't a very good idea.

"Ugh…! Karol…" Yuri hacked. I immediately rose. "Uhm… sorry…" I mumbled, still overjoyed. "…Yuri", Raven whispered. He'd been sitting on a chair near the head end of the bed. His face was so filled with relief that I knew his quietness had to be because the overwhelming feeling.

"Ah! Yuri!" Estelle noticed too, and rushed to us with a glass of water in her hands. "You have to drink this!" Yuri was still very out of it, and blinked confusedly. "Huh? W-what happened…" he tried to say, but his voice was very weak so it was more of a whisper. Raven gently took the glass from Estelle. "You need water", he told Yuri, who was working hard to get into a slightly upward position. Raven brought the glass close to Yuri and got him to drink.

Estelle clapped her hands together like she did when she was excited. "Ah! I must tell Rita and Judith!" she beamed and ran out of the room.

Yuri finished the water really fast, and I got more pillows for him to lean on to get almost into sitting position, and took off the wet fabric we'd placed on his forehead. Yuri looked very confused and slowly gazed around the hotel room. "We were in the desert…", he said, sounding like he was trying to recall something.

"Yeah! And you idiot didn't drink enough and passed out!" I scolded him, and felt tears almost coming from my eyes. "Stupid Yuri…", I whispered.

Yuri was still confused. "I… passed out?" "Yeah. We just heard a noise and you were lying unconscious in the sand. We immediately brought you back to Maintac", Raven filled him in.

Just then Estelle came back with Rita and Judith. The two walked closer and I made room for them. "…what did we say about being careful", Rita immediately pointed out. Yuri was getting a grip of the situation after having another glass of water, and his expression went into annoyed disbelief.

"Yeah I'm glad I'm alright too", he said. Rita snorted and went to stand next to Estelle. Judith flashed a wide smile to Yuri. "Sleeping Beauty wakes up. Morning!" Yuri snorted but smiled.

I went back closer and took a seat on the edge of the bed. I pouted a little over Yuri's recent actions. "...You can't just ignore your own health because I'm bad at regulating my water usage." "We didn't need water quite this bad", Judith agreed.

Yuri sighed and looked a little apologetic. "Hnh… Well yeah, I was kinda stupid back there", he said and looked at both me and Judith for a while.

Rita suddenly snorted very loudly. "We leave you four idiots alone for a while and this happens." "Rita, don't be so harsh… We were all really worried about you, Yuri", Estelle said, and she was clearly happier than in the time after we came back.

I noticed the door widen, and Repede walked in. Rita glared at him. "…And where the hell have you been?" she asked him with content. Repede ignored her and walked to me and Yuri, greeting me and then going to his master.

"Hey boy, how've you been? How'd it go?" Yuri asked the dog while petting him. Repede gladly took the petting and seemed very happy with himself. Yuri seemed to understand what was going on even though I was a little confused. "Oh, good boy Repede…", he said to his dog and scratched him behind his ears.

Rita was annoyed of being left out, even though no-one else was sure what Yuri was talking about either. "Hey, what's up with the dog? Where the hell has he been, anyway? Shouldn't he have been by his master's side?"

Yuri looked up to her. "Oh, I left him to watch over you two. Just in case. He's been patrolling around." Rita was taken by surprise. "Watch… eh? Why on earth would we need-" Estelle clapped again. "Oh, that's so nice of you, Yuri and Repede!" she smiled. Rita sighed and mumbled something I couldn't hear, but it seemed to be about them having been doing fine while we were in trouble.

Yuri looked away from us for a while, probably thinking about something. "Guess I got a bit reckless there. Sorry for the trouble I caused." He didn't look directly at us. I was sitting so near I clearly saw on his face that he regretted his behavior on the mission, and I guess everyone could sense it as well.

"Oh, no problem", Judy was quick to reply. I sighed and glared at her. "…you didn't really do anything, Judith… Raven carried you all the way", I first reminded Judith, who just shrugged and giggled a little, and then I said the last part to Yuri. Yuri took a quick glance at Raven who seemed a little surprised I mentioned him. He had been slumped in his chair so he suddenly bounced up and sat up straight. Yuri didn't look at him for long and instead turned to the wall opposite him. "Oh… I see", he mumbled.

My face must have looked like a living question mark, but he didn't say anything to me. Why not just thank him straight?

Rita snorted again, this time sounding somewhat… evil. "He carried you all right… Princess-style."

Yuri's face changed immediately. Uh oh. Judith giggled. "It was adorable." "Princess… style. Huh." Yuri growled the words one by one, and his gaze was getting… not very amused as he turned to glare at Raven.

I wanted to fix the situation. "H-he tried to carry you on his back, Yuri, but you're really tall and cause you were unconscious you kept falling off…" I explained, leaning forward by reflex, I guess to get through to him better.

I think he listened to me because he turned back to me and brought his hand slowly onto my head and messed my hair a little. I smiled cause I liked it when he did big brother stuff like that.

"Good work, Captain Karol. The whole guild got safely back from that hell's oven." He seemed to be serious, but I felt guilty I hadn't done anything before he collapsed.

"N-no, not really… Yuri, I should have-", I objected, but he interrupted me. "No, it was me being an idiot. But next time, no missions to dangerous places like that without asking me or Judy…" Yuri paused. "…without asking me first, okay?" he finished, and smacked me on my shoulder.

"What happened to asking me?" Judith laughed. Me and Yuri both turned to her. "Because no-one ever know what goes on in that head of yours", Yuri told her. She didn't seem hurt or anything, just kept on smiling, and I thought that Yuri was really right.

Yuri sighed. "I feel kinda tired…" he grumbled, and no-one was really surprised after he'd just regained consciousness. "We should all be getting to bed, it is getting late", Estelle said. I noticed I was feeling somewhat sleepy, too…

"Make sure to rest well, you reckless idiot", Rita told Yuri, and I could tell she'd been worried too. She turned around and took Estelle by her hand. "Good-night, Yuri! Good-night, Karol and Raven!" Estelle happily said and waved us bye while following Rita.

Just then a realization struck me. I hadn't told Yuri about the mission yet! "Yuri! I forgot! We found the cactus!" I yelled, and startled everyone still there a little.

"Hey, pipe it down, little fella", Raven said while covering his ear. "Ah… sorry", I told him. "You what? Found it?" Yuri asked me.

I brightened again. "Yeah! On our way back, when we were getting real close to Maintac, and I was keeping lookout for monsters when I noticed something green with this huge red bud on top of it! It wasn't too far I away so I went to check it out, and it was a cactus with a flower! It had to be the Cold Feet Cactus, so I picked it up and brought it back and Judith said I was probably right!" I reviewed the event to him.

"So the bastard was close to Maintac all along… Son of a…" Yuri sighed.

"Right after we returned and made sure you'd be all right, Karol went to out client and they planted the cactus on her yard so it wouldn't disappear come nightfall", Judith continued.

"I felt real bad to leave you, but I thought I had to fulfill the mission…" I explained, and when I peeked on Yuri's face, he smiled at me. "As I thought. Captain Karol, great job", he said, sounding a little official. I think I blushed a little. "Ah, no, we just came across it and we had been looking for it and…" I tried to say that it wasn't that great or anything, but it did feel real nice to be complimented by Yuri.

I felt too silly to look right at Yuri, so I just turned my gaze around. I noticed Raven was switching between looking at Yuri, and then down, and repeating this. I turned to Judith, who was just looking at the same thing. I was gonna ask Raven if something was wrong, then Judith turned to me.

"Hey, Karol, how about we go let the inn staff know Yuri's all better now? They were worried too", she asked me.

"Oh! Sure!" I thought of how nice they had been, and jumped off the bed. "I'll be right back", I told Yuri and walked towards the door.

I had already exited when I noticed Judith wasn't there. I turned to look back, and saw her saying something to Raven. I couldn't hear what she said cause she was speaking really quietly, but he seemed a little surprised, while Yuri was mostly expressionless. Judith then walked to me.

"Shall we go?" I looked up to her. I thought of asking what she'd said, but she probably wouldn't have told me anyway, so I just nodded. "Yeah."

After telling the inn manager Yuri had woken up and was feeling better (he seemed relieved, too), Judith came back with me to the guys' room, where we had left Yuri and Raven. She quietly walked after me, after just telling me she still might have something to do before going back to the girls' room.

We arrived at the room, and I noticed the door was almost closed. I went closer to it and as I grabbed the door, the faint light coming from the room spread. Raven was still sitting in the chair he'd been in for the whole time after we came back, but Yuri wasn't lying on the pillows anymore but completely sitting up the bed's side, his legs still on it.

I was about to shout his name and ask why was he up already, when Raven suddenly leaned in closer, very close to Yuri's face and… I felt my eyes open so wide they felt like they'd fall off. Yuri didn't draw away, and for a moment, I just stood right outside the door and watched. Raven fell back, and Yuri reached to Raven's head, stroked his hair a little and moved closer…

Suddenly, I took a step back noticed Judith right behind me. She closed the door back the way it had been, and the hallway was lit only by a faint stripe of light from the room and the light coming from outside.

I turned around and leaned on the wall. I was trying to comprehend what I had just witnessed, and Judith stood by silently. Raven and Yuri… they were… kissing…? But weren't they… Raven was always going on and on about girls… He had seemed even more worried than the rest of us when we waited for Yuri to wake up… I wasn't sure it all made sense or I had seen right. I looked up to Judith.

"…Did it surprise you?" she asked me. I blinked, but nodded rapidly a few times. 'Surprised' seemed a little lame to describe it.

"…they really like each other", she told me, her smile more gentle than usual. I looked down. "Like? As in…" I whispered, and thought of it.

Liking… Nan… But Raven and Yuri…? They were always making fun of each other, lightly smacking each other, talking, laughing together… Yuri had seemed to be fighting a little less alone in the very front row and somewhere around Raven instead… Taking care of the monsters before they could get close (I often watched Yuri fight because I wanted to get stronger, so I observed how he fought. He then scolded me for not focusing on the fights, but I did it anyway.)

I looked back at Judith. She nodded. "For a while now. You really hadn't noticed?" she asked, but I felt she wasn't making fun of me. I looked at the door. "They've wanted to keep it… private, I guess. I noticed, though, and I think Rita did too", Judith said.

"Does it… upset you?" she then asked. I was a little surprised. "Upset? Huh? Why?" She shrugged. "Yuri seemed a little worried you might be if you found out." I was confused. "Really? Um… I'm not upset. Just… surprised. This is kinda sudden", I told her. She petted my head a little. "That's all right. You'll understand one day", she said.

"Mmm… mmnh…" we suddenly heard a weird noise from the room. Judith stopped stroking my hair. "Oh, my. I told them not to get too naughty…" she mysteriously said, and I watched her go past me to the door and firmly knock on the door a few times. It became dead silent on the other side.

She waited a moment and then drew the door right open. "Hi, boys! I brought him back", she cheerily said and walked in. I decided to follow, and tried to hide my uncertainty.

Yuri was stroking back his bangs, and Raven was now standing.

"Oh, ah, hi Karol!" he weirdly greeted me. I tilted my head, but answered him anyway. "Um… hi…? Uh, the manager said he was happy you weren't hurt worse…" I said to Yuri. "Ah… Well, it was good to let him know, I suppose", he said, like his thoughts were somewhere else.

Judith joined her hands behind her back in her usual way. "Well, I'll be on my way now. Sweet dreams", she wished us, and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.

"…We better go sleep now; it's been a rough day!" I said, and tried flashing a cheerful smile. Apparently I managed well enough, as Raven sat on the bed a little away from the one Yuri was sitting on.

"Ah, yeah… Oh! Hey, Karol, didn't you say you wanted to sleep next to Yuri?" Raven said, and bounced off the bed. I remembered saying so the night before when Raven took over the bed he had just been on. It didn't seem all that important to me now."Oh, it's okay. I liked this side better after all", I told him, and went to the opposite side and picked the bed I'd slept in the night before. Raven was a little surprised, but didn't say anything.

It was always really hot in Maintac even at nights so I decided to sleep with just my shirt on, and I got to bed and told Yuri and Raven good-night. I listened to them go to their beds too, and then it got quiet.

I tried to sleep, but I just kept tossing and turning around. I already heard Yuri and Raven breathing peacefully, and felt bad that I couldn't sleep… I couldn't help wondering about what Judith had said… I got really frustrated so I decided I had to do something about it, got up from the bed and quietly walked over to Raven. He was clutching his pillow and mumbling something to himself.

I got on the bed and whispered his name. "Raven… Hey, Raven…" He didn't answer so I poked him, and after a while he started frowning and opened his eyes. "Hn… Huh? Karol? What are ya doing…?" he asked me and wiped his eyes. I guess he'd already been in pretty deep sleep…

"Ya have problems sleeping? Ya know it's Yuri's job to drive away the monsters under yer bed…", he mumbled. "N-no! It's not that! I mean, I was having trouble sleeping but not because of that… I was just thinking…", I stuttered and tried to keep my voice down so we wouldn't wake up Yuri. Raven seemed to notice how troubled I was and sat up. I sat and crossed my legs.

"Raven… Do you… Do you like Yuri…?" I managed to say. I was looking down so I didn't see how he reacted, but he seemed pretty normal when he spoke. "Eh? Oh, sure, I guess. He can be real stubborn and doesn't listen to others, but he's a nice guy." I snorted.

"Not like that! I… I mean… Like… Do you love him?" I closed my eyes before saying the last thing. It was quiet for a while so I opened my eyes, and saw Raven looking surprised and he was even blushing. When he noticed me looking at him, he turned to his right. I don't think he looked into the direction Yuri was in on purpose, because he then immediately turned to look downwards.

"Where'd ya-… oh, when ya two came back… Uhh…" he mumbled for a while and scratched the back of his head. He turned to look at me, waiting for him for his answer, right into my eyes.

"Well… Yeah. I really like him…" Raven said, smiling. He looked a little shy, not very usual for him, I thought… His eyes really convinced me he was serious. I turned a little away.

"I see…", I whispered. "And Yuri likes you?"

"Haha, well I certainly hope so… Yeah, he does", Raven joked, but answered seriously. Hearing Raven say this made me feel a little better somehow. It made my thoughts clearer.

Raven leaned a bit to his right to see my face. "…Does it bother you?" he asked.

I looked at him. "Eh? Judith asked the same… Why would it?" I told him. He seemed glad.

"Oh, I don't know. But I'm happy you don't think so", he smiled, and sighed happily. "I feel so happy just being around him. You know the feeling, don't ya?" he asked and grinned. I blushed. "M-me? I… But Nan…"

Raven smiled gently, unlike his usual more mischievous and carefree grin. He patted my head for a few times. (Did my hair feel nice or something, since everyone was touching it today?)

"The world is changing, and we can't yet see where this all is going… But I want to make it a peaceful world with no wrong-doers, for him. I want to right my wrongs and make up for my mistakes and cowardice. And after we have peace, I don't know what will Yuri do, but I'll stay with him and aid him in anything it is he wishes." Raven sighed and withdrew his hand.

He turned to look at Yuri, still smiling a little. "I haven't felt this content for a long time… This life I was given finally has a purpose that I feel is worth living for", he told me.

I wasn't sure I got what he meant, but he sounded happy with it, and that's what I wanted to know; that he really did like Yuri. I was sure Yuri liked him too, cause if he didn't, he would probably have kicked Raven's ass. I smiled to Raven.

"Thanks." He was surprised. "For what?" I just grinned and got up from the bed.

"Good night!" I cheerily said and scurried to the other side of the room. "Nite", he said after me, and stayed up sitting when I laid down in my bed. I watched him for a while, pretending to be asleep. He turned to look at Yuri again, and just sat there, watching, for a while. Yuri seemed fast asleep, and he sighed contently every now and then. Eventually Raven laid back down, and I smiled to myself.

I fell asleep soon, and saw a beautiful dream of me and Nan on a field full of her favorite flowers. She never admitted she liked them, but I knew. After we have peace, I want to give her a whole bunch of them; I hope she'll smile for me…

* * *

I really don't like this fic one bit... The characters are too OOC and it's generally so stupid. But I wasted so much time on this I can't just... abandon mah little one. Karol was fun to write, because I didn't have to come up with words to replace names and "he/she", but challenging, because I had no idea what kind of words would he use.

Named after the song from Vesperia's OST. The song itself isn't that good but the name caught my eye. It also inspired some parts of the fic the original inspiration didn't specify.

Raven's accent has mysteriously disappeared for the first half of the fic after I overused it in the previous fics. It wasn't on purpose... weird.

edit/I fixed some typos and changed Yuri's lines a little...

edit2/made it easier to read and changed some words.

All characters and locations mentioned (c) Namco Bandai.


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